http://news.com.com/2010-1071_3-1019814.html Setting the rules for ISPs and spammers By Declan McCullagh June 23, 2003, 4:00 AM PT Peter Hall's troubles with spam began the week of Aug. 5, 1997, when the New York-based independent film producer learned that his EarthLink account had been shut off without warning. EarthLink, a leading Internet service provider (ISP), had concluded--incorrectly, it turns out--that Hall was a spammer. The company terminated Hall's e-mail account but chose not to bounce or forward his e-mail messages. It instead quietly stored them in a mail spool. Anyone sending Hall e-mail likely concluded that the message had gone through. This week, a federal judge in New York is scheduled to hear arguments in a $2 million lawsuit that Hall filed against EarthLink a year later. It claims that EarthLink violated the law and that the missed e-mail resulted in his low-budget film "Delinquent" becoming a flop. (The film, which described a tortured teen's conflict with his abusive father, did manage to score a favorable review from The Village Voice, which dubbed it "raw, restless, contemplative and haunting." The lawsuit is worth watching for three reasons. First, it may address whether oft-controversial antispam blacklists like the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) are legal or not. Second, it looks at what happens when an ISP fails to neither deliver nor bounce incoming e-mail. Last year, a Canadian woman named Nancy Carter sued her ISP for $110,000 in damages after it held her mail because of unpaid bills. A relatively new California law requires e-mail service providers to give a 30-day notice before terminating accounts. No U.S. court case decision appears to have addressed this practice, which critics say is tantamount to holding e-mail hostage. Third, it tries to establish the novel--and worrisome--legal principle that ISPs fall into a near-archaic "public interest" category that would prohibit them from giving the boot to subscribers whom they honestly believe to be spamming. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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